HAGGAI 2:9

 “‘The latter glory of this house will be greater than the former,’ says the LORD of armies, ‘and in this place I will give peace,’ declares the LORD of armies.”

Everyone wants things bigger and better. Isn’t that right? If a two-bedroom house is good, a three-bedroom house is better. If you have earned $1 million, $2 million is better. Get the picture? We tend to think that way, but is it right? Is it God’s way? Let’s take a look at today’s verse and see.

God tells the Israelites that the new temple “will be greater than the former.” Was He declaring that it would be bigger and better? I don’t think so. You see, this new temple would be the very temple in which Jesus, His Son, would walk. The Messiah would enter it, bringing in His peace. That would make it better, not the adornments.

APPLICATION

So, what can you expect from your Heavenly Father? Will He make your life “bigger and better”? He may or He may not. What we can expect is that God wants us to be more like Him. He wants us to be holy. In Leviticus 19:2 God tells us, “‘You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy.’” Peter shares this again in 1 Peter 1:14-16, “14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, 15 but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; 16 because it is written: ‘YOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY.’”

Being holy is bigger and better. Walking with Him is being bigger and better. Now, the world will tell you just the opposite. It focuses on material gains or fame. Those things do not make you bigger or better. Who you are in Christ is all that matters. What do you want others to see in you? That is the real question.

For me, I just want them to see Jesus. That begins with my wife. I want her to see Jesus in me every day as we pray. I want my children and grandchildren to see Jesus in their dad or poppy. That is what will make me bigger and better. After all, there is nobody any bigger or better than Jesus. Right?

Make me like You, Lord. Help me to be holy, just as You are holy.